Heart Safety Co-ops, Commercial AEDs to protect High Rises

June 21, 2012 - PRLog -- Public safety consultants Elevaed Technologies is inviting office and residential building complexes to participate within a New Generation Cooperative (NGC) dedicated to  "heart safety".

The purpose of the co-op is to provide immediate responses to serious medical emergencies, particularly for cardiac events in high-rise buildings. EMS (Emergency Medical Services such as fire trucks, ambulances) cannot reliably access victims of sudden cardiac arrest within the required four minutes.

A cellular PAD (Public Access Defibrillation) uses the Internet to alert in-house volunteers, 9-1-1 and building stakeholders simultaneously - to effect defibrillations on time, before EMS arrives - preventing almost certain death or organ damage to victims of cardiac arrest.

New Generation Cooperatives (NGCs) are an adaptation of established farming co-ops formed to share a common capital-intensive utility. They are sometimes described as a hybrid between traditional co-ops and limited liability companies. They were first developed in California and spread and flourished in the US Mid-West in the 1990s.

In this application local high-rise residents or office workers cost-share a national monitoring system required for localized communications during major emergencies - principally cardiac 'events'.  Member facilities in the co-op pay a fixed monthly rate of $4 per suite that includes equipment, onsite maintenance and Internet monitoring/dispatch. As the central network administrator, Elevaed retains local CPR and property management professionals for ongoing support.

Heart Safety is an emerging 'green building' concept that addresses the inherent dangers in large complexes during sudden cardiac arrests - in busy cities with overtaxed rescue agencies - by exploiting the compact advantages big buildings do offer for sharing onsite resources.  The all-cellular infrastructure anticipates the incipient NextGen 9-1-1 network, and is designed to supplement EMS as a tandem safety architecture.

Elevaed has also applied to initiate regulatory support via the building codes, to extend and harmonize the deployment of AEDs, with elevator main lobbies as a standardized location.

The dismal survival rate for SCA's in high-rises is a major public health problem, given the enormous cost to society of premature death or brain damage from cardiac events treated too late.

Spokesman Dwight Jones commented that "A New-Gen Co-op is the best structure for keeping the national monitoring center and business aspects distinct from the local community participants. Property managers can implement the highest levels of cardiac safety in their buildings at a very low collective cost."

The predicted survival rate through prompt intervention should rise more than fivefold - the ubiquitous cellphone providing the means to intercede in heart events - our major medical predator.